Telegram bot

Fluffle has a Telegram bot. You can find it at @FluffleXyzBot. It will attempt to find the sources for any furry art you throw at it! You can have it reverse search images in the private chat between you and the bot, but it can also be deployed in both group chats and channels.

Fluffle in...

This chapter describes how the bot operates in the different types of chats. You may skip this chapter if you are not planning on adding Fluffle to a channel or group.

Channels

Fluffle can automate the process of adding sources to your channel posts. When you add the bot to your channel, it will automatically edit new channel posts and append the sources to it. Fluffle is not able to use the inline keyboard format for album channel posts because this is simply not supported by Telegram. Therefore, Fluffle will fallback on formatting the reverse search results using the text format in those cases.

There are limitations to what Fluffle is able to do for you in channels. If you forward messages from other chats, then the bot is not able to edit these messages and add the sources to it. The way around this fundamental issue, is having a discussion group (aka comment section) and adding Fluffle to this discussion group as well. This way, Fluffle is able to leave comments on the forwarded messages instead. When a forwarded post already contains a source, then the bot will ignore it.

Groups

You can deploy Fluffle to both groups and supergroups. See the chapter about channels for more information if your supergroup acts as the discussion group for a channel. When an image is sent in the group, the bot will send a reply message in the group with the sources. Sadly, it is impossible for the bot to edit the original message and add the sources to it that way.

Private chats

There really isn't much to this, the bot will simply reverse search whatever image you throw at it and report back to you about its findings. Just try it out!

Configuration

Some of the functionality the bot provides, can be configured to your liking. If the bot has been added to any channels or groups you are the owner of, then you'll be the sole person which is able to edit the settings the bot uses for those chats.

Response format

You can change the way in which the reverse search results are presented. There are two ways in which Fluffle can format these results: using text or the inline keyboard.

/setformat - Configure the bot to either use the inline keyboard or text way of formatting reverse search results.

Inline keyboard formats

The inline keyboard is, subjectively, the slickest looking format in which the bot can format the reverse search results. Sadly, it also has one rather big downside: comment sections become unavailable in a channel when a message has an inline keyboard. When the inline keyboard format is used, you have two options in which the inline keyboard can be applied.

/setinlinekeyboardformat - When the inline keyboard format is used, configure the bot to use a specific inline keyboard format of your liking.

Using the multiple sources format

Multiple sources format

The multiple sources inline keyboard tries to snugly fit all the sources in the inline keyboard. To keep the keyboard from growing too large, it is limited to a maximum of 2 rows. The downside of this format is that the text might get truncated on phones with a narrow screen. However, this likely does not occur often.

Using the single source format

Single source format

There isn't much to this format. Just a simple button that contains a link to the source. For when you like the way the inline keyboard looks, but find the multiple sources format too crowed or too verbose.

Text formats

When using the text format in your chat, you can configure the bot in which specific format it should format the text.

/settextformat - When the text format is used, configure the bot to use a specific text format of your liking.

Using the platform names format

Platform names format

The platform names format uses hyperlinks and a separator character. This is probably considered the most non-intrusive way to represent sources and is therefore used as the default for all channels and group chats.

/setplatformnamesseparator - Configure the bot to use a separator character to your liking. This can be anything including emojis and other unicode characters. The default is a vertical bar as can be seen in the image.

Using the compact links format

Compact links format

The compact links format simply places the URLs below each other. It is not used as the default format in any type of chat and is therefore entirely opt-in. To limit the amount of space the URLs take in, the number of sources presented is limited to a maximum of 3. It is far from being as compact as the platform names format, but when a URL is clicked, they won't be prompted before the link is opened in the browser. The main downsides are that this format looks cluttered and takes up quite a bit of space.

Using the expanded links format

Expanded links format

The expanded links format is mostly the same as the compact links format, it is limited to 3 sources as well. Just as the compact links format, this format is also opt-in. Some will find this format too verbose for their liking, others will appreciate it for being easier to scan over. Whatever floats your boat.

Rate limits

The bot makes use of rate limiting and prioritization to prevent abuse and guarantee service consistently to everyone. Per chat, per 24-hour period, a chat is allowed to make 400 reverse search requests. Exceed this, and the bot will start ignoring any photos sent.

/ratelimits - See the reverse search consumption of your chats.